Jubilation over the arrest of Saddam Hussein is fast being overtaken by international wrangling over how the man accused of killing hundreds of thousands of his own and other people should be tried.

Amid rising demands for the death penalty, US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair called for a public trial conducted in a manner determined by the Iraqi people, with no mention of outside participation.

But war crimes experts and human rights groups expressed alarm at the prospect of Saddam being tried by an Iraqi-led tribunal, arguing it could be compromised by an absence of international expertise, and that an opportunity to create a historic record of the suffering of Iraqis under the dictatorship could be missed.

"It should be operated like an international court," said Patricia Wald, an American and retired member of the Yugoslav war tribunal. "If international jurists are not involved . . . they run the risk of compromising their credibility."

The Americans, who declared Saddam to be a prisoner of war after his dramatic capture on Saturday, have pointedly refused to say exactly to how his case should be handled.

In Washington, President Bush said Iraqis would decide whether Saddam would face execution. "We will work with the Iraqis to develop a way to try him that will stand international scrutiny," Mr Bush said.

Asked about a death sentence, Mr Bush said: "Yeah, I said I have my own personal views. This is a brutal dictator - he's a person who killed a lot of people."

While Mr Bush said the penalty should be decided by Iraq, Britain and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan have expressed opposition to a death sentence.

Asked if he had a personal message for Saddam, Mr Bush said: "Good riddance. The world is a better place without you."

Saddam is being held under tight US security at Baghdad International Airport. US specialists have started what they say will be a months-long interrogation to extract information about weapons of mass destruction and the guerilla war still being waged against the US in Iraq. But authorities in Baghdad say they want to put the prisoner on trial in a matter of weeks.

Baghdad has already established a war crimes tribunal. But since it was done with US assistance and at a time when there was little expectation that Saddam would be taken alive, it causes anxiety in some capitals.

One of the architects of the Iraqi tribunal, Dar Noor al-Din, yesterday bristled at the suggestion that defendants could not get fair trials in their own country. "We have said that this tribunal is not for revenge. It's a fair court based on evidence and eyewitnesses and the accused has a right to a defence," he said.

But a member of the Iraq Interim Governing Council who was tortured by Saddam's secret police, Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, said: "We can't delay this. . . We must show the people that the man at the top, who was responsible for unspeakable terror, is brought to justice. He must be tried first - and executed first."

Amid the debate, the insurgent violence continued. In the latest incident, US troops killed 11 guerillas who tried to ambush them at Samarra, 100 kilometres north of Baghdad.